The Meaning of Sanity
by Super Junk Monkey
Summary: A psychological sort of fanfiction. I honestly do plan to continue this, and I have most of the story planned out, but it is on hiatus for now. I do not plan to release more chapters until it is finished, sorry. R&R, hiatus


**Author's Note:**

First of all, Okage: Shadow King and Psychonauts are copywrite their creators. (IE: Not by me :3)

You don't need to much knowledge about Okage to know the plot (because I know less people have played it compared to Psychonauts), and everything from Okage will be thuroughly explained. The characters from Okage may not be very well known too you, but I will tell you about them in the story in detail, so you don't have to worry. (Although for any Psychonauts fan I highly recommend Okage, because it's plot is equivilant in quirkyness- but it's not a platformer. You can probably pick it up for under $10 at your local game store under PS2 games)

Anywho. Main character names arn't mentioned here because it is a dream. This chapter is almost half Psychonauts and half Okage. (Although this won't make too much of a difference for those who don't play Okage, because the characters are explained in detail and too much about their game selves doesn't need to be known quiet yet, so it will seem 100 Psychonauts) Understand that the main character for this chapter won't necissarily be the main character for the whole fanfiction, although he may come back every once in a while for a chapter or part of one.

WHAT YOU SAY! Pairings! Maybe. Just not this chapter Classic ones, nothing too suprising. (IE Sasha x Milla, Raz x Lili, Ari x Marlene, maybe Rosalyn x Stan but I havn't decided yet. Knowing me there will definatly be little hints about James x Natasha)

Thanks for reading! Please review afterwards:3

* * *

**Prologue:**

**"The Day Everyone Forgot"  
**

As the haze cleared a girl came into focus.

She was a very pretty girl. She was not too tall, and not too short. Her shimmering orange hair ran down the length of her back, her bangs parting into curls to her shoulders. It was astounding how beautiful this girl could look, standing in the mud under an old oak tree, gazing up at the sky. Although her dark dress was drenched and her shoes were now painted the color of old tree roots, her gleaming red eyes seemed to pierce into the clouds, and see past reality itself.

The sky cried and the tears dripped down her face and onto the dirt below.

She felt as if she was crying with the town, the sky, the world itself. Waiting for the inevitable to take place.

Suddenly, the crying stopped, and the girl was overshadowed.

"Did I keep you waiting long?"

The speaker was a tall boy with dark, messy hair. He looked as though he had tried to arrive from a very far away place in a very short amount of time. He held an umbrella over the girl's head, and could not help but laugh. "Honestly. You're a mess! I told you to wait for me by the school entrance." He grasped her hand and pulled her forward with him, towards the sidewalk. "Well, you're lucky Dad won't be home until late tonight. He said he would be late because he scheduled an appointment to pull out someone's wisdom teeth"

"…well I still waited, you know" She glanced behind her back at the school, "I was going to wait by the entrance, but I ended up walking over here with Shelly today. She wanted to show me the turtle her mom had bought her for her birthday… we were watching it walk around on the grass before it started to rain."

"She had a turtle at school?"

"She snuck it in her backpack so she could show it to me, I guess. It was a bit foolish of her to bring it to school, though. She's lucky that it's alive"

Reaching the end of the sidewalk, the tall boy stopped and pressed the button on the traffic light. Watching the cars rush by, they waited for the opportunity to walk. Eager to break the silence, the girl looked up at her older brother.

"Oh, why are you late today, by the way? Not to pry, or anything"

"Oh?" The pedestrian light went off and they crossed the intersection. "Well, Fred and I were a little worried about Crispin. He's been a lot quieter lately and he won't say much. Fred came up with this great idea that we should teach Crispin how to play this new strategy game he bought called Waterloo. Well, Fred forced me to come over and sit with them for a while, since Crispin is more comfortable around me than Fred. We really only had time to teach him the basic rules though… and he didn't seem too motivated today. Fred says we should keep trying."

The boy sighed and straightened his glasses. "You know, though… I think Fred is only doing this to make himself feel good, not to help Crispin. He's obsessed with winning… I hope Crispin gets really good and starts beating Fred, it would serve him right because he is too egotistical for his own good"

"You're rambling again" The girl chuckled a bit and looked down at her feet. "Hey, I had a dream last night, do you want to hear about it?"

Looking down at his younger sister, the taller boy seemed greatly interested in this. "Sure thing. You always have such interesting dreams."

"Well. In my dream I was in this large library. There were _tons_ of books. They were books of all shapes, color, and sizes. It was so amazingly realistic in my dream. I swear I could picture exactly what it looked like. Anyways, I was walking to the back of the library and I found this hidden room. In there was this notebook. It was red and looked old like it was going to fall apart or something. This was no ordinary notebook, either. The book was huge. I opened the book and started coughing, because dust was flying everywhere. Inside the book were two rows. One was labeled 'name' and the other was 'classification'. I was able to find all of our names. It was as if the name opened to them itself, because it knew I wanted to see them. I was labeled 'princess'; your friends were labeled 'warden' and 'complete failure'. Father was 'creator'. There were also strange labels such as 'the milkman', 'shadow evil king', and 'teen idol'. The last few pages had a list of names under the heading 'deviant' and some of them were crossed out. I don't know; it was all so confusing."

"Geez. You have strange dreams. They are all very interesting though. What was I labeled?"

The younger sibling looked a little upset at having to answer this question, but thought she would answer it honestly all the same… or at least give a half honest answer "You were labeled 'dentist'".

The boy looked a little upset at this, but just smiled. "Ah. Well, that was to be expected right." He held up the large textbook he was carrying in his other hand bearing the title 'An Advanced Guide to Dentistry: Volume 4'.

"That book looks a little heavy"

"Heavy? It's a _beast_. I can barely carry this thing. And to think after this year it's medical school…" he sighed. "You know, there are absolutely_ no_ medical colleges around here, I'm defiantly going to have to go away for that…"

"Oh, and I'd just like to say…" Marlene looked up at her brother with a serious look on her face; "You don't have to listen to Dad if you don't want to. If you really want to be a neurosurgeon, than you should go for it!" She tried to look encouraging, but she only succeeded in making her brother's face falter.

"Heh. Thanks but it's really OK. I don't mind. We can't just let Dad's business die. He works really hard at it and we're the only dentistry for a good 40 miles" He looked up and sighed. "If I don't do this, who will?"

Finally arriving at their house the boy tucked his book under his shoulder and pulled the house keys out of the pocket of his raincoat. Turning the key in the lock, he stepped onto the welcome mat inside, and tried to scrape the mud off his boots. "You should just leave yours outside the door, behind the post over there so Dad doesn't notice them. I also recommend you change" Taking his boots off, he set them right outside the door too dry under the front porch. As he hung his raincoat on the rack, he saw his sister walk out of her bedroom and rub her eyes. She had changed into a clean t-shirt and overalls, since she was apparently out of dresses to wear. Walking over and looking out the window, the rain beating on it, she seemed to get sleepy.

The rain hit the window, over and over again. Her eyelids drooped and she yawned. Black specks danced under her eyelids. Her brother, anticipating what was coming, caught her as she fell backwards towards the floor.

* * *

It was 11PM when front door finally cracked open and a lanky man with a long, pointed nose stepped onto the entry mat. He hung up his coat on the rack and walked down a narrow hallway to the right of the entry and peered into the study to make sure his son was studying. The older brother, who had heard his father enter, had thrown his neurology books under the loose floorboard in the study (which he had to make forcefully, since nothing like such would have been permitted by his father while he was constructing the home) and began studying seriously for his dental classes. Trying to learn two professions at once was difficult. 

"Where's my daughter? Has she collapsed at all lately?"

"No. She just went to bed two or three hours ago" The son was such a magnificent liar that even his father was fooled at this statement. He knew just when to tell the truth, and when to lie. He was able to make such a perfect balance between the two, that deceiving his dad had become a snitch.

"That's a relief, any more of that fainting nonsense and I'll have to force her to quit High School" He straightened the buttons on his pinstriped suit so they were even, and checked the parting of his graying hair in the mirror, even though he was probably not going out again. Their father always made a point of changing after work to walk home in a suit, and the tall boy always viewed his father as being slightly Obsessive Compulsive.

"Oh, and you better be prepared for your final next Thursday. Our family's business depends on you acing this test, boy. As usual, I expect no less than perfection from my son."

"Yes, father. I'll do fine" He felt a strong urge to roll his eyes, but resisted temptation because the resulting lecture was in no way worth a moment of pleasure. His father gave him a searching look and left the room in his usual, professional stride. The boy could hear his footsteps as he ascended the stairs to his bedroom.

He leaned back in the sofa and put his feet up on the coffee table (which was strictly prohibited normally). Watching the blades of the fan go around in circles he got slightly dazed. Everything slowly went black.

* * *

The sun didn't set the next morning, and the rain beat against the window even harder than the day before, the blinds bouncing on top of the glass. It was 6:30 AM when a loud beeping noise filled the downstairs study and awoke the tall boy sleeping there. He reached to his side and picked up the glasses that fell off him while he was sleeping, and reached into his pocket to pull out his cell phone. "Crispin…" He flipped open his phone and held it to his ear. 

"Hey, Crispin" Listening intently he sat up straight and his face hardened a little. "I don't know if dad would like it, but I'm sure I can work out a way for you to stay over here for a while. I can say you're studying with me or something, but I don't know how many nights that excuse will work with him…" He looked upwards and sighed a little "Yeah, just take the bus with me today. That's fine. When you get over here I'm sure we can get you over to a doctor or something, it can't be that serious" Listening to the rest of his call, he tried to multitask, putting his books away and getting his stuff together. About ten minutes later he flipped his phone shut, and set it on the couch while he finished getting ready.

The sound of quiet footsteps could be heard outside, and his sister peaked into the study. "Ah. You're awake."

"Good morning" her brother pulled his bag over his shoulder, and got up to face her. "Sleep well?"

She nodded. "Breakfast is read, just thought I ought to tell you" Turning around, his younger sister walked away towards the kitchen.

"Coming" Gathering the last of his things, he followed his sister into the large kitchen. Other than the bacon and eggs in the frying pan, it was very clean and orderly. The countertops were bare and spotless; although from an outer perspective something so clean and perfect would seem sort of creepy, the two of them were used to it, because the whole house was like that.

Breakfast was a rather quiet affair. They sat facing each other at the table, at a loss for words that morning. It seemed as if conversation was hopeless that morning, because the atmosphere outside was simply miserable. Disturbed by the silence, the older brother tried to break in a conversation. "You know, I was thinking this morning… do you think with a strong enough spice it would be possible to make a person sneeze their brain out through their nostrils?" The matter of which he said this was jokingly, and his sister took his bait willingly and laughed.

"That's the most silly thing I've ever heard in my lifetime. Of course not!"

Her brother grinned. "You never know…" He reached over and grabbed the pepper off the table "want to test out my theory?"

"That's OK, I don't want to go to sneeze my brains out before going to school, in case I need to use them." She grabbed her brother hand and forcibly placed it back down on the table. "Now eat your breakfast or we will be late!"

The two finished eating and walked out of the house after they were sure everything was tidy.

After he had turned the key in the lock he turned towards his sister and gave her an apologetic look "I'm going to be late today, again. There is a study hall for the final next Thursday… if Dad finds out I skipped it I'll be in huge trouble. Please wait for me like you usually do. I know it's probably a pain, but you can bring a book and read under the covering in front of your schools entrance or something to stay out of the rain… I should be there to get you at about 5:30" He sighed, "I'm really sorry about this. I should probably also mention that Crispin will be coming home with me again today, this time he'll probably be staying for a week or so"

The girl forced a smile. "Don't worry too much about it. It doesn't bother me or anything" Convinced, her brother took her hand and they walked to her school in silence, the rain coming down even harder on their umbrellas.

* * *

It was 4:30 when the boy finally walked out off of his college campus. "God, I never though the Professor would let me leave… rambling on about the paranormal… it's not even part of my curriculum…" As he approached the bus stop, it took him a while to recognize his friend. His face was black and blue, and his forehead was drooping over his eyes, which appeared to have been severely mutilated. At a loss for words, the tall boy sat down next to him and his friend didn't say anything. 

"Care to tell me what happened?" After a few seconds he changed his mind. "Never mind if you don't want to tell me, I can wager a guess"

They waited in silence for the bus.

It had been an hour since the bus had arrived, and the boy, getting worried, reached in his pocket for his cell phone. "Shit."

Crispin looked over at him. "I just left my cell phone at my house! This is horrible, how am I supposed to let my sister know I'm late." Noticing how worried his friend was, Crispin tried to open his mouth, but no words would come out.

"Don't worry, she's probably just sitting there waiting. This has happened before." His expression contradicted his words, and his friend went back to looking at his feet.

Two more hours passed before the bus arrived. The door opened and they got inside. The driver, who knew the two quite well by then, was quick to apologize as they sat down in the bus. (He noticed Crispin's face, but knew by now to just leave him alone) "Today was just one problem after another. First thing I get to the bus lot this morning, my bus appears to be missing… Not only that, but once I finally _do_ find a bus I can use, I realize that I can't take my normal route here because some deranged security guard lit a grocery store on fire. Not to mention the traffic here was a huge pain in the ass! It took me hours just to get off the highway!"

"Don't worry about it" Running a hand through his hair, the boy looked out the window.

* * *

They stepped out of the bus onto the damp sidewalk. Well, damp isn't a good enough word for this, it was more like a flooded street than anything. The rain was so hard that they appeared to have five inches of flood, and the rain was so hard visibility was next to impossible. "Can you see, Crispin?" 

"A little, but everything's blurry"

The boy pulled his friend over to the bus bench and left his bag with him. "Wait here for me, I'm going to go pick up my sister" Without even waiting for a nod from his friend, he leaned down to make sure his boots were tightly fastened, and set off towards his sisters High School, his feet moving as fast as they could, for being in five inches of rain. He had to walk all the way to her school entrance before he realized that she wasn't there. Panicking, he ran towards the sidewalk, and fell face first in the mud.

Getting back up, he continued running down to the traffic light, and gasped a sigh of relief when he saw his sister there, pressing the crosswalk button. He ran towards her and shouted, but the rain was so hard it was impossible for her to hear him. Mud dripped down his face and he tried to rub it off while running, when he put his hands down again he realized that his sister had started to cross the street, but her footsteps were slow and she looked groggy, and with every step she seemed to droop. The rain seemed to echo in his ears as he ran, and when he reached the edge of the sidewalk, he yelled at her again before stepping over the edge, she seemed to turn, but her eyelids were down, and she collapsed in the sidewalk.

His eyes widened as he tripped over the edge of the sidewalk, his right arm outstretched to pull his sister back before she fell. There was a rush on his right and a sound of flesh tearing; bone cracking, and the flood of rain around him now had a horrible stench of blood. The scene was so graphic it engraved itself in his mind, but he couldn't find his voice to scream. He couldn't feel his arm, but it was so close to her. His eyes stung just looking at it. He could touch her, but she wouldn't move, and his hand, although on top of hers, couldn't feel her at all.

Yet, oddly enough, even in her death she looked rather graceful. Although the site was horrendous, he couldn't help but keep looking.

He couldn't get up. He couldn't move. He couldn't avert his eyes.

After a while, he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. There was a sound of sirens, but before he could see where it was coming from, he shut his eyes.

* * *

Screaming filled Appleton Medical Center that night, and well into the following morning. 

The nurses and doctors desperately tried to awaken their patient, but even once his eyes were open, the screaming wouldn't stop. Eventually, they had to tie him to the bed to keep him from struggling against them. It wasn't until about eight in the morning that the patient snapped out of it, and they were able to remove restraints. All they were able to get out of him before they left was that he did not remember the nightmare he had, and other than that he refused to speak.

After they left the room, he tired to rub his eyes but realized that his arm wouldn't move. Using his left hand instead, he rubbed them, and then looked down to see what was wrong with his right, and then realized that there was no right arm.

"They had to amputate it" The voice was croaky and he realized Crispin was sitting near him in a chair. "You had fallen into the crosswalk, and your arm was in the area of the accident… it was almost completely torn off"

The boy didn't say anything, but simply stared down at the bed. "What about you? Did you see someone while you were here"

"They said my optic nerves are permanently damaged, and I'm lucky that I'm not completely blind"

"Did you?"

"I said I fell down"

"Ah…"

"It was my fault, Crispin" His friend didn't say anything. The boy crouched on the bed, his head in his hand, clutching his hair. Tears ran down his face and his mouth could taste salt. "It was because I left my cell phone at the house… If I didn't leave it there… I could have called her and…"

"Shut up"

"but…"

"Go and kill someone with your own two hands, then come back and tell me it wasn't your fault" His friend got up and walked out of the room, leaving the boy in there alone.

Although the father kept pushing his son, and he eventually got his medical degree in Dentistry, the boy never really recovered, and every day he became more and more upset. The father began to disown him, because he claimed something was mentally ill about his son, as he would sometimes laugh randomly as if trying to force himself to be happy.

The boy's friends would claim that on some days, he would attempt to go and pick up his sister at the school, as if nothing had happened, as if he was _forcing_ himself to forget.

Although to some people he appeared to be perfectly normal, those close to him noticed something was wrong, and they couldn't have been more right in their assumptions.

* * *

The father would never forgive his son. 

The boy often overheard his father cursing him in the study, and mumbling to himself. It wasn't long before the father walked home one day with an odd pen in his pocket that the boy had never seen before, and began locking himself in the study, and writing in silence for long hours, skipping out of work.

Once, the boy snuck into his fathers study when he had left the door unlocked, and found a large red notebook sitting on his desk. It seemed to be a volume in a series, a series of many different books the man was beginning to fill up, all over the room in piles on the floor, and there seemed to be so many he could barely fit more in the room without blocking the entryway. Upon seeing this book, the son could only cry, and avoided ever returning to the study. He pretended he was blissfully unaware of this books existence.

After a while, people began to change.

No one would remember the little town

No one would remember the orange haired girl

No one would remember the strange old dentist

And no would remember that old man's son.

Everything would be forgotten, and the world would be whipped clean.


End file.
